Formal art criticism

What makes a good painting or a good work of art? Is it all based on taste?

Is beauty or ugliness only in the eye of the beholder?

How does one judge a work of art?

Can one look at a work and not like it but still appreciate its place and value in our culture?

In order to evaluate a work of art you must look at how "Form" and "Content" work together. In "artspeak" we talk about the formal aspects of a work, and the content. If form and content are in sync, then you can decode what the artist was trying to tell you in his work.

What does that mean? Formal Aspects? What's "Content"?

The formal aspects of a work of art is all about how a work is made.

Here are some of the formal aspects you can talk about:

What kind of art work is it?

*Is it a painting?

*Is it sculpture?

* Is it an installation?

*Is it a print?

What is it made of?

How is it made?

Is it a functional or decorative object? A functional object would be an artfully made vase or pot, or a piece of furniture.

Functional art objects are sometimes called fine craft.

Content

Content refers to what the painting is about. To learn about content you ask the following questions:

What kind of painting? Is it a portrait, a landscape, a still life or an abstract painting?

What does the work represent? What is it about? What kind of feeling does it instill in you?

Assignment:

Let's start by understanding the formal aspects of a work art.

Choose one more of the following museum sites.

Spend 15 minutes exploring these spaces.

http://www.nga.gov/

http://www.metmuseum.org/

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/joanmiro/default.shtm

Then locate one work of art.

Identify

*the kind of art it is,

*the artist,

*the title,

*the date it was made

*the material it was made of

write that information underneath the work.